West Side 360°

About

A Pop – Up Exhibition by BA (Hons) Costume and Performance Design in association Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

West Side 360° exhibition is a response by students in BA (Hons) Costume and Performance Design, to a live brief from Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO).  The students were asked to design a set of costumes inspired by the  concert Song and Dance (Adams, Rachmaninov, Bernstein & Gershwin), sponsored by the Arts University Bournemouth.

This exhibition presents the work of the second year BA (Hons) Costume and Performance Design students, who, this year, have investigated the celebrated American musical West Side Story.

Focusing on costume cutting, costume sourcing, scenography and costume design for film. The musical, originally staged in 1957 and based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, was directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.

The story is set in the Upper West Side neighbourhood in New York City in the Mid-1950’s and examines the racial tension and rivalry between teenage gangs: the White Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks. The dark and disturbing focus on social tensions, sophisticated music, extended dance themes marked a turning point in American Musical Theatre.

This pop-up exhibition gives an insight into the complexity and breadth of work that the students complete as part of their curriculum and the variety of different technical skills that they need to master, showcasing digital and analogue costume design, scale model making exercises, calico toile pattern making, as well as sourced and styled vintage costume.

The project was originally conceived in preparation for the concert Song and Dance (Adams, Rachmaninov, Bernstein & Gershwin), performed by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra on the 22nd March 2017.